FIJI
No tsunami risk after quake
A magnitude 8.2 earthquake struck off Fiji yesterday, the US Geological Survey said, but it was too deep to generate a tsunami and there were no reports of damage. The quake hit at 12:19pm 361km east of the Pacific nation’s capital, Suva, at a depth of 563km, US seismologists said. The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was “no tsunami threat because the earthquake is located too deep inside the Earth.” The quake, and several aftershocks ranging up to magnitude 6.8, were felt as a rippling effect in the outer Lau islands group, but residents in Suva, on the main island of Viti Levu, said they did not feel a thing.
UNITED STATES
Hunter becomes hunted
Utah authorities said a bow hunter suffered minor chest and leg injuries when he was attacked by a mountain lion that stalked him and his father before and after the attack. The attack happened on Saturday in mountains near Kamas, east of Salt Lake City, Division of Wildlife Resources spokesman Phil Douglas said. Conservation officers were sent to the scene, and a man and his dog were attempting to track the mountain lion so it can be euthanized if found because of the attack, Douglas said. The wounded hunter declined medical attention because he wanted to continue hunting, Summit County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Andrew Wright said.
EGYPT
New curbs on Web passed
President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi has ratified an anti-cybercrime law that rights groups have said paves the way for censoring online media. The law, published on Saturday in the country’s official gazette, empowers authorities to order the blocking of Web sites that publish content considered a threat to national security. Viewers attempting to access blocked sites can also be sentenced to one year in prison or fined up to 100,000 Egyptian pounds (US$5,593) under the law. The parliament last month approved a bill placing personal social media accounts and Web sites with more than 5,000 followers under the supervision of the top media authority, which can block them if they are found to be disseminating false news.
UNITED STATES
Man loses digit in golf brawl
A man has bitten off another man’s finger during a fight at a Massachusetts golf course. A 47-year-old man was on Friday arrested at the Southers Marsh Golf Club in Plymouth after he apparently got into a fight with another golfer and bit off a part of his thumb, WCVB-TV reported. The victim’s thumb had been bitten off to his knuckle and he was transported to a local hospital for treatment, the station reported. The incident happened at about sunset, it reported. The attacker was arrested and charged with mayhem.
MEXICO
Turtle deaths investigated
Environmental authorities are investigating the deaths of more than 100 endangered sea turtles whose carcasses have turned up at a wildlife sanctuary on the Pacific coast of Chiapas State. The environmental protection agency on Saturday said 102 olive ridley, six hawksbill and five Galapagos green bill turtles were found dead at the Playas de Puerto Arista Sanctuary between July 24 and Monday last week. Authorities are testing the water and conducting autopsies to determine possible causes of death, it said. Asphyxiation, fishing hooks or harmful algae blooms might have killed the turtles, authorities said.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was